Death Eaters... Forever?

I Apparated again, only getting as far as the main Hall of the Ministry before collapsing. It took a lot out of me, but as I stood up, I saw that Harry was lying on the floor with Dumbledore beside him, while the Ministry, along with the Minister himself, were staring dumbfounded at the two of them. What did I miss?

I started towards Harry but stopped as a shape manifested behind him. Voldemort.
He looked at me once, smiling, and disappeared. Once I began to breathe normally, I walked over to Harry and Dumbledore, helping a stunned Harry up.

“You-Know-Who’s back!” Fudge hissed. Took your time, I thought, rolling my eyes.

XXX
Unfortunately, it was holidays already, and that meant that I had to spend my time at the Malfoy Manor. However, I organised to go to the Burrow for a week – which was a month away – and I still owled my friends regularly. I knew in the back of my mind that I'd never see Sirius again, but I was good at ignoring things I didn't want to hear.

“An acquaintance of mine will be staying here at the Manor for the duration of the holidays,” Lucius told me as I arrived in the fireplace.

“Who?” I asked curiously.

“Barty Crouch Junior. I hear you’ve met him before, is that right?” My mind felt foggy, as though I’d drank too much fire whisky.

“Yes,” I croaked out. “Tom- I mean, Voldemort… did he order this?”

“He did,” Lucius replied, looking at me strangely. I nodded jerkily and practically ran to my room, where the house-elves had already taken my bag.

Throwing myself on my bed carelessly, I lay there looking at the ceiling, trying not to think what may happen.

So this is who he wanted me to ‘take care of’, I thought. But why did it have to be him? I sighed and got off the bed. Taking my bag off the floor, I opened it and began to take out all my possessions to distribute round the room. It took me about an hour and a half to finish unpacking, but when I was done I felt a lot better. I decided I deserved a small treat, so I walked downstairs to the kitchen. Passing the living room, I heard voices. My stomach flipped when I realised whose voices they belonged to.

“…will be watching her closely.” A familiar silky voice spoke, but I didn’t hear exactly what they were talking about.

“But-”

“Dark Lord’s orders,” The silky voice cut Lucius off. I decided that now was not the time to eavesdrop, but it was too late.

“Come in, Kyera,” Barty said. I managed to stop myself from visibly jumping, and calmly entered the living room. Barty was standing by the fireplace, his dark robes blending in with the obsidian brick. Lucius looked harassed – but meticulous as ever – and looked at me as though I had made the Dark Lord angry.

“Next time, please don’t eavesdrop,” Barty told me with a sinister smile. My face burned, but I nodded, lips pressed tightly together.

XXX
Barty was given a room two doors down from my own – which wasn’t far enough away for my own peace of mind, but I knew I couldn’t do anything about it.

“Dad said to tell you he’ll be out for the night on… business. He said that you’re to stay here to look after Crouch. Sorry I can’t stay with you – I’ll be at my mates’ party,” Draco told me, coming into my room without knocking. For a second, I thought he was joking, and almost laughed. Then, realising he was serious, I felt sick. Who knew what a mad Death Eater might do in a house alone with me?

“O-ok,” I replied, and he looked at me in concern.

“Are you alright?” He asked. I nodded jerkily. He looked about to say something, but then simply shook his head and walked out. I sank back down onto my bed with a sinking heart. It’s not that bad! I told myself. I wondered why I was so scared of Barty when I wasn’t even afraid of Voldemort (well, not as much as I should be, anyway).

I took a long shower, trying to put off the inevitable, but the water began to run cold, so I got out and wrapped a huge blue towel around myself before finding a dark blue knee-length dress. I fussed with my hair, but it was almost seven, and I could procrastinate no longer.

“Well, I better go down for dinner,” I told myself, sounding braver than I felt. Locking my room with a flick of my hand, I took off downstairs. Lucius had already gone – which was obviously why he hadn’t been able to tell me he was going himself – and Draco was in the living room, about to go to the party. I sighed, wishing I could join him.

“Bye, Draco,” I said as I passed. He flashed me a smile, taking some green powder from a small pouch by the fireplace.

“Parkinson Manor!” He shouted clearly, throwing down the powder in the process. With a green flash, he was gone, and the flames returned to normal almost immediately.

“Your dinner is ready,” a small house-elf told me. I thought his name was Scraggin, but I wasn’t totally sure, so I simply nodded and gave him a smile. He gasped and ran out of the room. Obviously he wasn’t used to being treated civilly.

I got to the dining room just ahead of Barty. He was dressed in his usual black robes, but he had tidied himself up. His hair was tousled just right, and he looked charming, which surprised me. He didn’t look as scary like that, and I let out my breath gustily.

“How are you holding up?” He asked, shattering the image of a high-class gentleman.

“Uh, good,” I managed to say in a calm voice. He only smirked at me.

Sitting down at the table awkwardly, I watched mildly as one of the other house-elves set my dinner in front of me. I didn’t feel hungry at all, but guessed that I’d have to at least pretend. Barty sat down inconspicuously on my right, closer than I would’ve liked. Then again, any distance was closer than I would like, so it didn’t make much difference.

“So, uh, how long are you staying here?” I asked, trying to make idle conversation to prevent the awkward silence from continuing.

“Until the Dark Lord decides to move me,” he replied. I found it strange that he would refer to Voldemort so casually.

“Which will be…?”

“Why don’t you ask him?” I froze. He laughed heartily. “I was joking. Possibly either next month or the month after.”

“Oh,” I mumbled. I was beginning to relax in Barty’s company, and as we ate, he asked me trivial questions.

“So how did you and Severus become so close?”

“Occlumency classes, strangely enough.” He looked at me questioningly. What’s the harm? “I’d been through something similar to him.” I didn’t elaborate, still not able to trust Barty. “So tell me something about yourself,” I said as he sat there, lost in thought. He looked up and smiled.

“I’m twenty-seven, I’m a Death Eater, I killed my father and impersonated an Auror.” I sighed. I already knew that from what I’d gleaned from his mind. I told him as much, and he looked angry, but schooled his features and simply smiled.

“Yes, the Dark Lord told me that you were a master Legilimens.”

“He did?”

“Yes, he was very-” Suddenly he stopped, sucking in a painful breath. He pulled up his left sleeve to expose his writhing Dark Mark, an ugly black tattoo compared with my own silver version. Not that I was being biased – my Mark really was beautiful. I was rather proud of it, despite what it stood for.

“I’ll be back,” he said to me – it sounded more of a warning than a promise, but before I could reply, he Apparated, leaving me alone in the house.

The house-elves had already taken my plate, so I went back to my room, where I changed for bed. I was surprisingly tired, although it was only about half past nine. Turning off the light, I thought I heard footsteps, but when I listened for them, there was nothing to break the pleasant silence. Probably just a house-elf, I told myself, getting into bed. Yawning, I studied the ceiling until I fell asleep.

XXX
I knew I was in a dream – no, not a nightmare this time – but it was so real.
I was standing in the old duelling room in my old house. My wand was in my hand, and there was a man at the other end, his face blurred. Obviously I was about to duel with him, but I couldn’t remember a single spell.

“Who are you?” I asked predictably. He didn’t answer, but I began to make out his facial features. He had a straight nose, pale skin and very dark eyes. Underneath his eyes were purple shadows, but he seemed to be rather handsome. I knew he was familiar, but I couldn’t remember where I’d seen him. I walked toward him, wand still raised in case he attacked me. I reached him, and he looked down at me with dark green eyes. That’s wrong, a voice in my head argued. His eyes are meant to be red. With a jolt, I knew who he was.
“What are you doing in my dream?” I asked, irritated that I was going to get another horrible nights’ sleep.

“Warning you. Don’t let your heart get the better of you.”

“Wha-” I began to ask, but stopped. This wasn’t really Tom Riddle; it was my own mind playing tricks on me. However, before I could argue this point, I woke up, befuddled and confused. Why would my own mind warn me? Especially this, I added to myself. I sat up in bed, and saw that there was a weak light filtering through my curtains. I groaned. No sleep for me then. I got out of bed and had a quick shower before throwing on a pair of jeans and a tight red top. I wouldn’t ever admit it out loud, but I loved Muggle clothes. They were so comfortable and fashionable. And I was able to pick out average-looking Muggle clothes so I didn’t stand out in a crowd of them – unlike some wizards, who wore bright, uncoordinated and clown-like Muggle wear.

I walked past Draco’s room and rapped on the door loudly. I heard him groan on the other side and smiled evilly. Obviously he’d had too much fire whisky at his party last night.

I went down for breakfast, having a quick meal of bacon and eggs on toast before taking my broom and flying to the Quidditch field.

“Can I join you?” Barty flew up to me on his own broom as I raced aimlessly round the field. I did a double-take.

“Uh…sure, if you want…” Before he replied, I sped off again until everything was a blur. I loved the thrill of flying – although this method was slower than my own, I still enjoyed the speed and adrenaline. To my surprise, Barty kept up, although he didn’t go through the Quidditch hoops. After a few minutes, I slowed down enough so that I didn’t have to hold on with my hands.

“Wow, you’re good. Have you considered joining the Quidditch team?”

“I turned down the offer of Seeker – I didn’t want to make a mistake and show everyone at Hogwarts that I’m a half-elf,” I explained, surprised that I felt comfortable talking to him now.

“Fair enough. But what’s really so bad about everyone knowing?”

“No advantage, special treatment, too much attention…” I counted them with my fingers.
“Oh… right.” He looked at me as though I’d just confirmed something.

“So, uh… what did the Dark Lord want last night?” I was curious, especially since I hadn’t seen the Dark Lord in my dreams for a while – last night didn’t count.

“A report.” I waited, but he didn’t elaborate, so instead I simply flew back to the Manor.